Words From a Watchman

Greetings to each one. Greetings to each one of you this morning in Jesus' name. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of your Sunday morning service.

I want to thank you for welcoming me and to Brother Jerry who gave me this opportunity. Just in case I'm not known so that I'm not a total stranger, Daniel Keniston and family and I have been serving in Ghana, West Africa, as missionaries for 20 plus years. I spoke here four years ago on an evening.

I don't remember whether it was a Sunday evening or a Wednesday evening or what it was, but I spoke here four years ago. My family was with me that time. My family is in Ghana this time and I'm here in the States for the month of August.

I'm preaching in about a dozen churches, so I'm grateful to have the opportunity to share with you and I believe that God wants us to learn something together from His Word. Father, we thank you for who you are. It's not really about who we are this morning, Lord, it's about you, about your glory in our lives.

Father, I pray that you would take absolute control of this morning's service, Lord, and especially my mind and my mouth and let me speak honestly, frankly, lovingly, Lord, the words that you've placed on my heart to share. Father, I thank you for your people gathered here. Lord, we are here because you are here.

We're here to give you glory with our lives, here to learn things from your Word that will help us to give you more glory. Father, we thank you. If you'll allow me to just ramble a little bit here at the beginning, I appreciated our brother's words.

I'm sorry, I don't know your name, but Brother David, I appreciated your words encouraging us to direct our thanks. We are living in a period in which thanks and thankfulness is kind of a movement all around America and not just in Christian circles, and so we certainly don't want to get lost in some kind of a new-agey kind of thankfulness. Rather, there is a special honor in being able to specifically thank the Lord Jesus Christ because when we specifically thank him, we are identifying by the default that he is the one as opposed to all of the others.

And so in the same way that when you bless your wife or thank your children or express appreciation to any other person, we try to be specific about who we're thanking so that that person realizes that this is not just a general thanks that's floating out there in the world, but rather a specific thanks for a specific act. And I like to think of it this way to take a different example. I've told my wife on numerous occasions, the day that I married you was the day that I said yes to you.

And we don't really think about this other element, but the fact is that the day that I said yes to my wife was the day that I said no to all the other girls that I had ever gone to Bible school with or maybe thought I might marry or maybe were in the same church with. And I didn't stand up there and say, this morning I'm saying no to A, B, C, D. I just simply said, yes, my wife Christi. Does that make sense? In the same way, every day that we stand up and declare, Jesus, you are Lord of my life.

Jesus, I'm thankful for what you've done for me. We are loudly and clearly declaring to our own hearts and to the spirit world that it's only him. And we're saying no to all the other whatevers might be out there.

I was thinking this morning of an old hymn, and I'm not singing this to you because I have a good singing. But this is an old hymn. I don't know if any of you know it, but it honors the Lord Jesus, and it's on my heart this morning.

Of its music, it makes my joyful and The precious name of Jesus Every day Jesus, let all saints proclaim Your worthy praise, O heavenly King I'll place a burden on my heart this morning to preach to you some words from a watchman. Words from a watchman. But before I do that, I have a real burden on my heart for all of the young people that are here.

I've spent my life in Africa, other than reaching out to a tribe. I've spent my life discipling young people in the subject of mission. So I've had the opportunity over the last 20 years to have about 300 young people come to Ghana and stay with me and allow me to teach them on the subject of mission, disciple them, and inspire them.

So when I'm in a church like this, I see the young people. Young people are very much on my heart. Just allow me to speak to you for a couple minutes before we get into the body of the message.

We are living in a time where you young people probably hear your parents and your church leaders, pastors, speaking often about how bad things are getting. And it's part of being my age and older that we start looking back and comparing how things are now to how they were years ago. And we're observing America changing.

I was here in the States for February, March, and April. And I have to be honest, after more than 20 years in Africa, I really wondered if I want to be an American. I felt this incredible estrangement, me and my country, my country.

I grew up here. But you hear parents or elders talking about how bad things are getting. And it's true that things are getting bad.

And it's right for us to be aware of what time it is when we look into the word of God and we recognize what's going on spiritually around us. It's right for us to be aware. But sometimes I think there's a danger that you young people might think, well, this is the time period we are growing up in.

And we have to live in this terrible period. And so inadvertently, when we older people speak about the good old days, whether that's the way America used to be or the way church used to be or the way revival used to be or the way America used to be, we are inadvertently inferring that you all live in the days that are not as good as the days we lived in. And I recognize that in numerous ways that is true.

However, the word of God tells us that when things are getting bad, we should be lifting up our eyes because our redemption is drawing nigh. So I'd like to speak into the hearts of you young people this morning just for a couple minutes and say to you, while we may be living in difficult days and dark days, and you may hear a lot of people talking about the fact that it's like the good days of America are now past. It's like things are going to keep going downhill from here.

We want to be careful. I want to be careful to make sure that we also inspire you young people to recognize that you may have the privilege to live in the time when the redemption not just draws nigh, but is here. Oh, joy.

Oh, delight. Should we go without dying? No sickness, no sadness, no death and no crying? Caught up in the clouds with our Lord into glory. Jesus received it.

I'm sure that there's a lot of darkness and America is going downhill fast, but the Bible promises us that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord will raise up a standard against him. That's important because you young people are likely to be that standard that the Lord raises up against the flood of the enemy coming in your life. So it's important that you're ready to be that standard.

But it's also important that you not give up and say, well, I mean, they said it's just going to get worse and worse and worse, and it's already bad. So what are we fighting? You are fighting because there's something worth fighting for. It's exciting to be able to be alive at the end of the age.

It's exciting to be part of that standard that God raises up against the enemy. I want to encourage you young people. Don't give up.

Don't allow us older people getting nostalgic for the good old days to let you think that, well, then we just live in the bad new day. You live in the time period in which God planned for you to be. You are here for such a time as this, as Mordecai said to Esther.

You are here in exactly the time period that God plans to use you to fulfill his glory. One of the greatest ways that you could prepare yourself to be part of that standard is to get a vision for what God is doing around the world. Missions is a great way to gain exposure to what God is doing for the world and to get some vision for that.

I'd love to have some of you come and spend a couple months with us in Ghana in the Sent One program. Come to Ghana or not. I have a passion for you young people that do not give up before you even get started just because you hear how awful it is.

It may be getting dark. This is the time in which God has appointed you to rise, shine, the glory of the Lord. That was true in my generation.

That was true in the generation before me. And it's also true your generation. The promises of God are absolutely unshaken and unchanged by the political or the moral situation of America today.

Don't lose heart. God bless you. I really do love you young people and feel a burden for you.

I'd like to share this morning some words about being a Watchman. The title, if you like titles, is Words from a Watchman. I want us to look first at a couple of preparatory verses, Isaiah chapter 21.

I realize that we no longer live in a period in which there are city walls protecting our cities and we no longer have watchmen. In Ghana, we still have watchmen. There are still men who sit outside of houses and stay awake all night long so that the person inside the house can sleep.

But even that's not exactly the picture that the Bible paints of a watchman on the wall. And I think most of us have enough historical context to understand that back in the day, they built great walls around the city so that the houses were inside the wall, and the wall protected the people both from animals and enemies. And those walls had gates, and those gates were only open at certain times of the day.

And there were watchmen on the wall so that they could make sure that the gates would be closed if an enemy was approaching. And there were watchmen on the wall whose duty it was to see further than what the people inside the city could see. And the responsibility of the watchmen on the wall was to see and then communicate what they saw.

And so we're reading here in Isaiah chapter 21, and we're reading from verse 6. For thus saith the Lord, for thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeeth. The very basic responsibility of a watchman is to get up there on the wall, that's setting the watchman, and then make sure that that watchman declares what he sees. Because the watchman is not standing on the wall just for his own personal observation.

He's standing on the wall so that he can see and communicate what he sees. Verse 7, And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of osses, and a chariot of camels, and he hearkened diligently with much heed. And he cried, A lion, my lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward all night.

Focusing here just on verse 6 where God says, Go and set a watchman, and let him declare what he seeeth. It is a responsibility of watchmen to stay awake while other people sleep. It is a responsibility of watchmen to see further than what the people who are inside the city are able to see.

And then the watchman needs to declare what he sees. They had watches, and that gave the concept of time throughout the night. They would have these watches, the first watch, the second watch, the third watch.

And the watchman had to stay awake so that other people could sleep, knowing that there's a watchman on the wall who's watching what might come. So the responsibility of a watchman is to watch more than others, and then communicate what he sees. Let's turn to Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 3, and we're reading from verse 17.

Verse 17 of Ezekiel 3, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity.

His blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, focusing on verse 17, God says, I have made you, prophet, I have made you to be a watchman, and I want you as a watchman to hear the words at my mouth, and then warn the people.

So just in these two verses we see very basic responsibilities of a spiritual watchman. A spiritual watchman is supposed to see further than others see, or maybe see things that others don't see, and communicate what he sees. And secondly, a watchman is responsible to hear the word of God from the mouth of God, and then communicate it as a warning to the people.

If those are the responsibilities of the watchman, there are also responsibilities of the people who live under the security of the watchman. If you decide to live inside the city gates, and you go to bed every night knowing that there's a watchman on the wall, and while you're going about your daily activities, cleaning your house, or doing your whatever artisan work you may do, you're working inside the city with the gates wide open, but you know that there's a watchman on the wall, and you dwell in security because you realize that that person on the wall will warn you if there's an enemy coming. So there are responsibilities on the part of those who are being watched for, or those who are living under the protection of a watchman.

Let's turn back to the book of Isaiah. Forgive my African pronunciation. It's only been three days since I arrived in the States.

Isaiah chapter 30. Sometimes use our African pronunciation. Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 9. God is speaking to the children of Israel and saying, you are a stubborn people, a rebellious people.

Verse 9 of Isaiah chapter 30. Let's read verse 8. Now go and write it before them in a table, and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious children, a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the word of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things. Speak unto us smooth things.

Prophesy deceits. Get you out of the way. Turn aside out of the path.

Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. So this is a negative example, but it highlights for us that those who are being protected by the watchman, have a responsibility to welcome the truthful words of the watchman. And so God says that the children of Israel were rebellious and stubborn people because they said to the prophets, don't see.

Don't go out there and look for danger. Don't stand at a place where you'll be able to see things that are coming. Don't see.

And then if you see, don't prophesy things to us that might upset us. Just forgive us. Don't talk to us about reality.

They said, speak not, prophesy not unto us right things. Don't tell us what's going on. Prophesy to us smooth things.

That's the opposite of the responsibility of those who are being watched. Those who are living in the protection of a city that has watchmen on the wall must be willing to listen to the truth about what's coming. So there's this partnership that needs to go on between the watchman on the wall, seeing what he sees and communicating it, and in a spiritual sense, hearing the voice of God and communicating it.

And then there's a cooperation with the people who live under that protection who need to say to the prophets, please see, not see not, but please watch out for us. Please have your eyes open. Please be observing what's going on.

And then please tell us what's really happening. Give us a dose of reality, even if it makes us uncomfortable. Because the children of Israel were spoken of as rebellious because they didn't want to know reality.

Prophesy to us good words. I'm reminded of Prophet Micaiah, of whom it was said, oh, I don't like that prophet because he never prophesied good for me, but always he, as if it was the responsibility of the prophets to make the kings happy. No, it's the responsibility of the prophets to tell the kings the truth.

And if the truth isn't something you want to hear, then probably you shouldn't call that prophet because Micaiah stood there and said exactly what was going to happen. And the king said, I told you he was going to prophesy something terrible. Yeah, but it was also the truth.

It was also what was coming. It was exactly what was about to happen. So the Lord's been laying heavily on my heart now for about 10 days to share some words with you as words from a watchman.

And I'm not really comfortable being the watchman. And I'm really not comfortable being your watchman because you really don't even know me. And I don't really know you.

There's something uniquely awkward about just driving into a place and getting into the pulpit and preaching, and then it's awkward. It really is. Because, you know, you could say, and you are, who are you? And what right do you have? And I'm not an old prophet.

But I've prayed about it. I feel like I have a responsibility to say what God has given to me. Then as I thought about watchman, I thought, you know, by saying I'm a watchman, I'm not saying I'm an extraordinary person.

The watchman who stood on the walls of the city were not there because they were the best people. They were not there because they were superior. They were there because they agreed to stand on the wall and watch.

They agreed to climb up onto the wall of the city, which would give them a visual perspective that the people down inside the city wouldn't have. So I'm appealing to you this morning that you hear my words not because I think I'm the prophet, but simply because by living in Africa, I have a different visual perspective, not because I'm better or taller or greater than anyone, but I live outside of America, and I don't know you that well. And so when God says to me things, I have a responsibility to speak them, but not because I think I'm something special, but just because I need to be true to God's word.

And I also believe in my deepest heart that you all don't want to hear lies. You know, we are living in a period in which that's becoming very common. Maybe people don't say it to their pastors, but they say it by moving, by leaving, by congregating by the thousands in churches where pastors tell them things which feel good, sort of feel-good Christians.

So while people may not say to their pastors, don't make me uncomfortable, they just leave and go somewhere where they'll hear a message which could be maybe a self-help, motivational speech, or it might be a pastor preaching. You really can't tell. How ironic.

Say to a man who's standing on a wall who has a responsibility to warn you of danger and keep you alive. How ironic to say to that man, you know, I've got blood pressure. Don't tell me.

Just tell me truth words. Watch what I'm going to go to sleep, and I really would like to get a solid seven hours. They say a solid seven hours of sleep is really healthy for the body.

Don't wake me up at two in the morning screaming about an enemy coming in. I would really like to get seven solid hours. Does that make sense? That's the irony that God is communicating here when He says, they said to the seers or the prophets, hey, don't see.

Don't have your eyes open looking out for danger. Don't see. And if you see, please don't tell us.

We don't want to be disturbed. We want to be comfortable. Give us truth words.

To tell our prophets we want lullabies rather than warnings is extremely dangerous. So with your permission, I just want to share three different glimpses or warnings that I feel like the Lord has laid on my heart. I think it was last week, and I don't remember which state it was in, but there was a neighborhood somewhere here in the United States where family was asleep.

It was like one o'clock in the morning. And suddenly one of their neighbors, I don't know why the neighbor lady works late or is home in the middle of the night or woke up to let her dog out or what it was, but something like one o'clock in the morning, the neighbor lady woke up and saw that the house was on fire or sleeping away, and the house was on fire. And I didn't watch the video, but you can see their ring doorbell, where this woman comes up to their house, on the door, wake up, and everyone gone, saved the life of a person.

As a watchman, we are living in a world which is very much on fire, particularly for those who do not know about Christ. And so one of the words from the watchman this morning is to just remind all of us that we need to see the lost as Christ them. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 4. Do we have any firemen here in this fellowship? Anybody volunteer firemen? So no firemen.

Do you think that if you noticed your neighbor's house burning at night, would you roll over and go back to bed or would you go and pound on the door? Go pound on the door, every single one of us. If you didn't, your conscience would convict you. Maybe not the government.

I really don't know if they make cases like that. It's pretty hard to know. Did anybody see this house on fire? But your conscience would not let you rest, because you saw the fire and just went, I'm trying to sleep.

Or that neighbor, he's got a temper. Can you imagine how angry he's going to be when I wake him up at 2 in the morning? Wouldn't do that. We need to recognize that the lost are really lost.

2 Corinthians 4, verse 3, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to come shining out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I think it's right for me to say to you, as a watchman, the world is on fire for those who do not know Christ. I know that we know that theologically. I think sometimes in America it's harder for us to grasp the fact that the lost are really lost.

I think possibly when you watch a Muslim man going through his repetitious prayers, you know, 27 cycles in a day, it's maybe more likely that you'll recognize that person is lost, that person is making an effort which will not achieve salvation. I think maybe it's possible when you witness the darkness maybe of pagan Africa and observe people who are still making sacrifices to their ancestors and you see blood running down the walls of their houses, maybe then we would say, these people are lost. But the fact is that anyone who is without Christ is lost, and the God of this world has blinded their eyes because he does not want the glorious light of the gospel to shine in.

Lost. They're really truly lost. So, as a watchman today who has gotten to observe the world of Islam and the world of tribal ancestor worship, and as a missionary who's been able to watch many, many people come to Christ, and as a missionary who's gotten to see the gospel work, it's really a privilege because the gospel works.

It changes lives. When that glorious light of the gospel shines into dark Africa, dark America, or dark China, lives get changed. And as someone who has witnessed that over and over, I feel that it's my responsibility to stand here today and say, the world is on fire! And we dare not roll over and go back to sleep while the world is on fire and people are at risk of dying, going to hell.

I know that reality feels far away from us, but it's not far away because it's happening around us here in rural Ohio because nowhere is really far away in the world we live in. Everywhere in the world is. As I was driving, I really, really love this area, the hills and the areas I was driving through yesterday.

I was reminded that the whole area of Ohio is dealing with one of the worst drug overdose rates in Africa. I just remind myself of that. The people that I'm driving by, some of these abandoned homes, they had people then who died from drugs.

This world without Christ is lost, and it's on fire! Because you and I have the word of God, and because we have the glorious light of the gospel shining on our lives, we must make our name. We must let them know that their house is on fire. God has shone a light on our home, shining a light so that we can take the message to the dark world.

So the first word from this watchman, just remind us that there's a house on fire. Dare not think about the fact that that neighbor has dogs. Walking this morning, I'm very sensitive to dogs.

Walking on the road, and you know, you just walk and it's like, is some huge dog going to come running? Maybe your neighbor has dogs. If their house is on fire, you're going to brave the dogs. Maybe your neighbor has a nasty temper, but if their house is on fire, you're going to brave that nasty temper.

Nobody likes being woken up in the middle of the night, but you're going to wake them up in the middle of the night. Maybe you're kind of quiet by nature. Stand on the porch and whisper while the house is on fire.

I mean that. Some of us find it easier to go out and witness. Some of us find it easier to walk up to somebody and strike up a conversation.

Some of you find that intensely difficult, but we should be motivated by the fact that the glorious light of the gospel has shined on us, not just so that we go to heaven, but so that that glorious light will be shined out to a world that's dark. And if the house is on fire, even if you're the quietest little woman, even if you're not somebody who raises your voice, I hope you could bang on the door and scream. Live in this world with you.

Those that are lost teach a course at the St. Juan School about unity. I don't think most of us would say that we believe there are other ways to get to heaven besides Jesus. I don't think we would say we believe, but sometimes our lives make it look like we think there must be other ways to get to heaven.

There is only one way. There is only one name. The name of Jesus is not the only way people get saved.

The first warning from the watchman this morning. My mind, as I prayed over this, I switched to another mental picture. That was the picture of comfort.

We don't need to turn there, but the book of Amos, chapter 6, verse 1 says, Woe, those that are at ease with Zion. How could there be woe? Everyone is a Zion. Aren't we all trying to get to Zion? Aren't we wanting to be in the kingdom of God? Don't we want to belong to the family of God? Isn't our goal to finally get to Zion? Spiritually and eventually, physically, we want to be in Zion.

Yet there's a woe or a curse spoken over those who are in Zion and are, I'm sure you young people know this, and I'm not saying it's true of you. There's a phrase going around America these days. Netflix and TV speaks about the fact that a lot of people want to spend their lives watching movies.

China is run by the Communist Party. China had COVID lockdown. So much tighter than what you think.

Actually welded bars on. Broke the curfew out of your house. The government of China discovered that they could do a lot happier.

Practice COVID with them. Gave everyone access. COVID.

Lockdown. Cell phones started giving out. As long as there's something to watch on them.

As long as they've got the ability to watch TV, as long as they can scroll through Instagram, they're not going to fight us. They're not going to come out and holler about how repressive our team is against each other. Hundreds of millions of people.

Okay, well, at least I got a phone in my purse. So this house is not on fire. This house is full of comfort.

Turn to 1 Timothy 2. Many years ago, I was a young preacher. I grew up in a preacher's home, and preaching was something that was a part of my life even. But I went with my father to attend a revival service in a church, not one of our churches, a church there in Lancaster County.

And these verses were read. Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1. I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. The person who gave the devotion stopped reading right there.

And then at 14, I just about stood up and started reading. Because the thought that God wants us to pray for our leader, because it is God's ultimate goal that we lead quiet and peaceful lives, is a false theology. It might be an American theology, but it's a false theology.

Because the next verse says, This, what? A quiet and peaceful life is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Why? Because he who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

The purpose of the quiet and peaceable life is not that we enjoy it for ourselves. The purpose of the quiet and peaceable life is that that is an environment in which resources and time and people can be freed up to get busy fulfilling God's ultimate design, and that is that all men be saved. Something in my heart just screams out against us in America, taking verses like this and saying, Yes, we pray for our president.

We pray for our president because we want to live a quiet and peaceful life. The quiet and peaceable life that God is asking us to pray for here is a means to an end, and the end is that all men will be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And to use that quiet, peaceable life for my own ends is anti-biblical.

It is not what God intends. So this watchman on the wall this morning would like to pry out to a house full of comfort the dullness that comfort creates. And I'm not slamming the couch you sit on, and I'm not saying you shouldn't have a phone, and I'm not arguing against pillows you have in your bed or whatever it is.

You must be aware that comfort is like a drug. I think there's a great danger that America as a nation would be willing to slide into communism or socialism provided that our comfort is there. And the Chinese people were willing to be welded into their houses as long as the government is woe to a nation, woe to a people, places comfort is a paramount objective of their lives.

We are told here to pray for our government so that quiet and peaceful lives will be possible because it is the will of God that we utilize the resources, the possibilities, the people that are freed by that quiet and peaceable life help all men to come into the knowledge of salvation. So when that minister read the first two verses and thought about loss today, this is, let's pray for our president. So idyllic, so beautiful, so lovely, not a we.

God, that is not God's intention. The quiet and peaceable life is so that we are able to take the gospel. If we live on the run, if we're living in time of war, if we're being persecuted and we're running here and there trying to save the lives of our children, we're not probably going to be able to send the gospel around the world.

That day is likely coming in this land, but it's not here now. Please don't dare God to bring it upon us by not utilizing this great period of freedom and peaceful, quiet lives that are possible for us right now. Rather, use these as tools, the purposes of God, and the ultimate purpose of God is that all men... So I do sleep on a mattress in Africa.

I'm not saying you've got to sleep on the ground, but from my position on the wall, because I'm better, remember, but just because I live in a different place and I see different perspectives, I just want to sound a warning, not to you that your house is on fire, but to a house full of people who are in Zion. Lord, there's a great risk that we're comfortable, that we place priority on our comfort, our travels, our vacations, our businesses, our trucks and our cars and whatever it is that we want to do, and we place priority on that, and God's purposes are not... Another song for you again. ...and lots of food on the table, was a house full of much money, and 50 children all once around.

Oh, what a day! Oh, what... I would like to say to you this morning, keep your eyes on your father. I grew up in a... I used to go in from the shop and go in to eat lunch, and we would watch my father, and we would just be having a high old time as the family laughed and talking and telling stories. Finally, my father would kind of slide his chair back.

That was the signal that all of us young men... The break is over. Time to go to sleep. I want to encourage you to have your eyes on your father.

Yes, he's delighted with the family around the table. There's a reason why he keeps looking out. Our heart is going to God's heart.

The delight at being around the table. I'm not asking you to leave this table. Be here if God wants you to be here, but while your heart is here, let your heart be the heart of God, which keeps looking out and being careful of comfort, the dullness of the break.

The last warning from the watchman... Closing quickly here. The last warning from the watchman that I had in my mind was gas leak. Maybe it's a little bit different.

Maybe it's similar, but a little bit different from the house on fire. In my mind, I'm thinking of the gas leak as being not people who are on their way to hell. I'm thinking of the gas leak as being people who are living in incredible danger.

You can survive a gas leak as long as there's nothing that sparks, as long as nobody lights the stove or lights up a cigarette or even scrapes metal against metal. As long as that doesn't happen, you can survive a gas leak. You can be in a house surrounded by gas.

My wife tells me a story of a very, very cold morning in Colorado where they had propane trucks. She went to fill the truck with propane, go and deliver some milk, drove into the yard, looked really strange about the area around the propane, very cold. So this propane had leaked out of this big bulk tank, like floating, sitting on the ground.

And thankfully, nothing happened. Eventually, they blew the gas away and they closed the line. That was probably the most dangerous gas leak I've heard.

If somebody just flicked metal against metal, that whole entire area would fall apart. And I think a lot of us are not spiritually prepared for the dangerous moment that we are living in history here in America. We are living in a time in which the evil of this world just leaks into our lives.

We're not tuned in and listening, or our noses are not tuned. Do you know that gas doesn't smell at all? Do you know that they add that scent to the gas? It's actually like essence of darkness. They add that to the LP gas.

Otherwise, you never know. Sometimes it feels to me like that's the way the influence of the world is. You don't smell it, and if you're not really listening, you don't hear it.

So as a watchman on the wall, I have a responsibility to hear what God tells me and communicate it. As a watchman on the wall, I have a responsibility when I see an enemy approaching, I'm supposed to get worked up about it. I'm not supposed to come down and say, I'm supposed to start shouting, close the gate, an enemy approaches.

Think that we are living in a time, spiritually, in our churches and families where the world is like gas. Now know that our lives are filling up, filters in influences that hit us every time we leave our homes, every time we pick up our computers. It might be okay, and somebody might poison our homes.

Romans chapter 13 and verse 11. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.

Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh nor the lust. I absolutely believe that it's possible to survive in this period.

But we're going to have to be awake. We're going to have to be alert. We're going to have to be determined.

We are not going to make provisions for the flesh. I'm not sure, but in my heart sometimes I feel like what worked a generation ago, the spiritual temperature which was okay a generation ago, might not be hot enough to survive now. I don't know what you did during COVID, but lots of us took some extra vitamins.

My family and I started eating greens in Africa, all types of spinach-like leaves that we eat. Started eating greens at basically every meal. Started taking some supplements.

Just let's build up this immune system. We're not a sickly family. We just thought, well, let's build up.

Let's take all we can take. We came back to the States and traveled for three months all over the States. We were taking, I don't know what brand it was, but we were taking some kind of sort of expensive vitamins and minerals and things to build our immune system.

Why? Because we're sick? No, because we realized we're going to travel and we're going to come in contact with thousands of people. We're likely going to meet COVID everywhere we go, and we need to be able to keep traveling and visiting families. And so, in the context of this greater risk than we've ever encountered, let's build up our immune system.

Does that make sense? That's pretty simple. It's time to build up our spiritual immune system. What we took a generation ago may not be enough to sustain or withstand, to sustain spiritual life and withstand the insidious influence of the leaking gas of the world.

So, what is so easy for us to understand in the physical realm, we need to pull over into the spiritual realm. I don't think any of you would have mocked me if I told you I'm taking a bunch of supplements right now because of COVID, and I'm on the road, and right now, God help me. I'm supposed to preach in 12 churches in the next three and a half weeks.

I really can't get sick. So, I don't think you'll blame me if I'm taking some extra stuff, if I'm drinking barley green or alfalfa juice, or I drank some herb tea this morning. I'm trying to stay strong.

Why? Because I recognize that I'm encountering an unusual degree of attacks against my immune system. Spiritually, guys, we've got to be awake, says the night's past, daytime. Let's walk as children of light in the daytime.

Don't make any provision for the flesh. Closing in 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. But of the times and seasons, brethren, verse 1, you have no need that I write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

Therefore, since you and I are children of the day and not children of the darkness, verse 6, therefore let us not sleep as do others. Of course the people of the night sleep. Let us not sleep as do others.

Let us be watchful and be sober for they that sleep, sleep in the night. They that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober.

This is the time for serious attention to our spiritual input in our lives, to our spiritual nutrition, to walking with God, staying alert. Those of us that are of the day, sober. Let's put on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation, for God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation.

So our three scenes, the house on fire, the comfortable and dull life focused on our own comfort, and thirdly, the warning to those who may be sleeping in a house with a gas leak. Not automatically going to die but just in incredible danger. So this morning, again not because I think I'm something special but just because God has given me a little bit of a unique perspective living outside of the States for almost 25 years.

I'm standing on the wall and I'm saying to you, these three warnings are what God placed on my heart. Not because I think you all are any worse off than anyone else. I'm convinced that you are children of life.

So I say to you, you're children of life, you're children of the day. Let's be sober. Let's be serious.

Let's recognize that this is a time for enhanced spiritual nutrition if there ever was one. God bless you. Stay awake and alert, especially you young people, to be the standard that God raises up against the flood of evil currently hitting us.

God bless you. Thank you for giving me...